People, Ideas, and Movements That Shaped New Thought
The New Thought movement, a 19th-century American metaphysical tradition, emphasized the power of the mind in healing and personal success. Its ideas evolved into the modern positive thinking industry and profoundly influenced contemporary self-help culture.
The New Thought movement, a late 19th-century spiritual and metaphysical movement, was largely led by and for women. This article explores how women shaped its teachings, institutions, and legacy, and how it intersected with feminism and ideas of sexual purity.
New Thought is a 19th-century American mind-healing movement emphasizing the power of thought and belief to shape health, prosperity, and well-being. Rooted in metaphysical idealism, it has influenced modern self-help culture and remains active through groups like the International New Thought Alliance.
Explore the intellectual and spiritual lineage connecting Transcendentalism and New Thought, from Emerson’s idealism to Quimby’s healing methods, shaping a metaphysical religious movement.
The Mind Cure movement was a late 19th-century American healing movement that used metaphysical mind-over-matter techniques to treat illness. It emerged from mesmerism and metaphysical philosophies, shaped early psychotherapy, and birthed the New Thought movement.
William Walker Atkinson was an American attorney who became one of the most prolific and influential writers in the New Thought movement, authoring over a hundred books under multiple pseudonyms. His work shaped modern self-help, yoga, and prosperity teachings, leaving a lasting legacy in metaphysical literature.
Horatio W. Dresser, son of Phineas Quimby’s followers, became a leading New Thought philosopher and historian. He preserved Quimby’s manuscripts, founded key institutions, and shaped the movement’s intellectual foundations.
Warren Felt Evans (1817–1889) was the first author of the New Thought movement, a former Methodist minister turned Swedenborgian who became a pioneer of mental healing. His spiritual journey and published works shaped the intellectual foundations of mind cure and influenced later New Thought leaders like Charles Fillmore.
